ALTON — Consideration of a new superintendent’s contract at the Alton School District will be delayed until December.

A possible contract with interim Superintendent Mark Cappel had been on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, but contract paperwork was incomplete, thus the agenda item was removed. School Board President Ed Gray said the issue would be discussed at the December board meeting.

Cappel, who had retired as the district’s human resources director in 2015, was named interim superintendent in June after Kenneth Spells left the district to take over the South Bend Community School Corp. in north central Indiana. At the time of his appointment, Cappel said he was interested in the full-time job.

In other business, the board acted on several financial issues, including the approval of the estimated tax levy for 2017-2018.

The estimated levy must be approved this month, with the final levy to be OK’d in December. The levy sets the maximum amount of money a taxing body can receive from property taxes.

Director of Financial Service Christopher Norman said that using current estimates the tax rate will be very near the present $4.86 per $100 equalized assessed value.

In other financial issues, the board approved repaying an $85,000 loan from the Working Cash Fund to the Social Security Fund and a $140,000 loan from Working Cash to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. Also approved were a loan of $1.3 million from the Operations and Maintenance Fund to the Debt Services Fund, and a $500,000 loan from Working Cash to the Transportation Fund.

Norman also told the board that the state currently owes the district about $3.5 million in “categorical” state aid payments for transportation and special education. Categorical payments are normally made four times each year.

The state has not made its final payment for last year, which was due June 30, or its first payment for this year.

Gray said they needed to send correspondence to state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, and state Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, “just to let them know” the difficulty this is causing.

“I’m always intrigued by the financial watch list, but what watch list are they on?” he said, referring to the state.

Norman said Wednesday that the June payment is now 135 days late, and if that trend continues it could create cash-flow problems by the end of the year.

The board also recognized the Alton High School Rotary Student of the Month — Adam Kane; the Alton Middle School Optimist Students of the Month — Fletcher Leonard in October (he was unable to attend last month’s meeting because of a band commitment) and Josie Paniagua in November; and Lovejoy Elementary School Optimist Student of the Month — Sophia Santrock, a first-grade student.